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On Tuesday, I finished recording the final lead vocal for the long-awaited James Dempsey and the Breakpoints album.

There is still work to be done—some backing tracks to record, final mixing and mastering of each song—but all the lead vocal and core instrumental recording is now complete.

This album is the realization of a dream fourteen years in the making.

As you might imagine, all of this has me on a sort of euphoric emotional tilt, bouncing from joy to gratitude to relief to excitement and even fear.

Joy

There’s a real sense of joy towards the end of a long journey when the destination is finally in sight. An exuberant psychic “Land Ho!” rings out through your entire being.

This journey began with writing that very first song fourteen years ago. I had always hoped to get the chance to record my material and record it well. It’s been amazing to have the opportunity to take the time to produce a fully realized version of each song.

Listening to the rough mixes, I am incredibly happy with the results! I usually reserve my exclamation points for tweets and exhortations, but wow! I am absolutely beaming! I can’t wait to get these tracks out into the world!

Gratitude

I am very grateful to everyone who lent their time and talents to the album. Having the privilege of working with some wildly talented musicians on this effort has been humbling—as has been witnessing them add their own magic to the songs I’ve written.

A dozen or so musicians have contributed to the album. Among them are three who perform on the lion’s share of the tracks: Gordie Freedman (@modenaboy) on guitar, Darren Minifie (@minofifa) on bass and our producer Russell Bond (@russell_bond) doing all sorts of percussion and drums.

Hearing the tracks, it’s often the little things that make me smile the most—a guitar riff from Gordie, a subtle bit of bass from Darren, a drum fill laid in by Russell. For a sampling, you can check out their handiwork on our single, Almost Dropped My iPhone, but just wait until you hear what they’ve done on the rest of the album!

Relief

This milestone also brings with it a sigh of relief—there were a few times when it felt like this project might stop dead in its tracks.

When we first went into the studio back in early 2012, I was very excited to have found a great studio and a great recording engineer and producer: The Annex Studios and Russell Bond. Both already had a long and storied past with Apple and the Mac. (Read more about them here)

Three months into recording, the studio building’s owner dealt a harsh blow. The building was sold and The Annex Studios had thirty days to vacate the premises. After a nearly 40-year history, the beautiful space where we were working on the album was suddenly no more.

Our first single, The Liki Song, was the last thing recorded at The Annex Studios before it was dismantled.

This derailed progress on the album, but much more disheartening was watching our friend Russell go through this major upheaval in business and life. And now, a big part of the relief I feel is knowing that he emerged from that tumultuous time with his well-being intact.

As for the album, after a hiatus, we resumed recording at HowlingPoint Studios, high up in the Santa Cruz mountains. This is Russell’s in-home studio, a much more intimate space. Gone is the giant mixing console, but now Julius the studio cat keeps us company while we make our music.

I know that I won’t breath that last sigh of relief until the album is up on iTunes, but this week I’m feeling great.

Julius the studio cat, listening to the meow mix.

Excitement and Fear

It’s an understatement to say that this week I’ve been experiencing a lot of excitement and a healthy dose of fear.

This time of year always gets my adrenaline pumping—anticipating the barrage of WWDC announcements, prepping for the big show on Wednesday night (details here), looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones.

And now, knowing how close we are getting to release throws all of that into overdrive. I’m so excited by how it is progressing, it’s hard to contain myself!

But there’s also that fear. Over the years I’ve written a bunch of code and now I’ve written and recorded a bunch of songs. What I’ve never done before is promote an album.

My fear is that I will not succeed in getting the word out to the wide world of iOS and Mac developers who might enjoy the fun of this album. I am very open to thoughts, suggestions or any opportunities to spread the message. Feel free to tweet them at me or, better yet, email me at info@jamesdempsey.net.

And, of course, when the album is released, if you enjoy it, please don’t keep it to yourself. Let other developers in on the fun.

Almost a Wrap

If you’ve enjoyed these songs in the past, I ask that you please join our mailing list so we can let you know when we cross that finish line and the album is released. I’m really looking forward to getting these songs out into the world, and I think you’re going to enjoy how this all turns out. •

When James Dempsey and the Breakpoints play live near WWDC, sometimes things progress beyond the sweet sounds of nerdy, nerdy music.

Last year, a new event appeared on the conference schedule—WWDC After Dark. A little investigation turned up some interesting results, which, judging from the audience response, the crowd thoroughly enjoyed.

As we get ready for this year’s big show on Wednesday night, June 4th (Full Show Details Here), here’s a little bit of fun from last year’s concert.

James Dempsey and the Breakpoints will be performing Live Near WWDC 2014 on Wednesday, June 4th at 7:00 PM.

The show is just a few blocks from Moscone West at 50 Mason Social House. Admission is free—no cover charge and no ticket required. We provide the music, you buy the drinks.

Join fellow iOS and Mac developers for an evening of humorous and informative songs including favorites such as Hold Me, Use Me, Release Me; I Love View and Model View Controller. And don’t miss the live performance of our latest song, ripped from the headlines, Goto Fail.
(View Full Show Details and Map Here)

Night Of A Thousand Breakpoints
(Well… at least four or five)

This year, the show features a lineup of Mac and iOS indie developer luminaries and maybe even a special guest or two. The Breakpoints include:

They will be joined by the incomparable Victor Alexander (@victoralexander) on slide-advance keyboard.

The joint will be jumpin’ at 50 Mason

No WWDC Ticket Required

The show is open to all—no WWDC ticket required—making it a great event for all developers in town for the week. There’s not even an NDA, so tell your friends and come on out to James Dempsey and the Breakpoints, Live Near WWDC 2014. •

In some ways, the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) has not changed very much since the first one I attended in 1996. The format is essentially the same. The conference kicks off with a keynote followed by a week of technical sessions, labs and evening events.

But the last few years have brought a major change that has caused me to reshape how I think about WWDC, and unfortunately, how to live without it.

Since the inception of WWDC, if you were a dedicated developer for Apple platforms, you were at the conference. And, up until 2011, if you considered attending WWDC to be a must-have part of being an Apple developer, you had at least a week to get a ticket. If you were reasonably vigilant, you were in.

But in recent years, with the demand for tickets far outstripping supply, you can’t think about WWDC as a must-have part of your life as an Apple developer. By necessity, you have to think about going to WWDC as a nice-to-have. That is a big change.

Once something changes from being dependably available to rarely available, you begin to form alternate plans and take alternate paths.

Not whining—just reality

First, I want to be clear that this is not a complaint. I think it’s fantastic that there is so much interest in the platforms that I enjoy using to build apps. But a new reality has arrived and so I needed to adjust.

Last year, I spent WWDC week in San Francisco without a ticket. I had an enjoyable and productive time last year and so I’ll be up in the city again this time around as well.

So how has a long-time DubDub-er been dealing with being outside the building? Read on…

Beyond WWDC

One key was thinking about what WWDC provides and figure out how to meet those needs in some other way. For me, that boiled down to:

Sessions

Labs

Social Events / Networking

Sessions
I find sessions to be a very valuable part of WWDC. Especially for a new technology or API, that session often provides not just technical information, but also some insight into the philosophy behind the technology, which does not always make its way into formal documentation.

Last year, Apple did an amazing job of posting session videos the same day of the presentation. I hope this year to be the same. [WWDC 2015 Update: Apple will be streaming select sessions each day, in addition to releasing session videos]

In fact, watching session videos at home or in a hotel room is arguably a better experience than waiting in long lines and sitting in tightly-packed conference chairs. Last year, for instance, instead of getting up early Monday morning and standing in a giant line for the keynote, I slept in and watched the keynote from my hotel room.

Plus, I didn’t feel guilty that I was somehow ‘wasting’ my ticket by not being in the building.

So, for sessions, I am completely at peace with not being at WWDC. Apple has done a great job of making the technical information from the conference rapidly available.

Labs
Labs have always been one of the most valuable aspects of WWDC. They provide developers with sit-down consultations with Apple employees. There are three types of labs: Technology Labs, the User Interface Design Lab, and the App Store Lab.

In the Technology Labs, you can bring your code and talk one-on-one to Apple engineers (often the very engineers working on the technology you are asking about).

Unlike session presentations, labs do not scale well. There are only so many engineers and most of the year they are doing engineering, not manning labs.

As a substitute for Technology Labs, consider using Tech Support Incidents. You receive two as part of the yearly $99 developer program fee—additional incidents are available for about $50 each.

With a Tech Support Incident, you can ask a code-level question that is answered by a Developer Technical Support (DTS) engineer. I’ve talked with folks who have used the service and they report good results overall. One caveat is to not expect an immediate answer, researching and replying to your issue can take a few days.

Using DTS is not an exact substitute for sitting down face-to-face with an Apple engineer, but it is a reasonable and more scalable substitute. (You also don’t have to wait until WWDC to ask your question.)

As far as I can tell, however, there is currently no substitute for the User Interface Design Lab or the App Store Lab. These resources seem to be exclusive to WWDC.

In my first year as an independent developer, sitting down with someone at the App Store Lab clarified a number of things for me. I found that brief interaction to be very valuable.

It might help developers to have the ability to get these sorts of consultations done outside of the scope of WWDC. I would be willing to pay for support in a manner similar to DTS to get these additional services during the year. At present, though, you need to make do without these two labs.

Social Events / Networking
Apple sponsors its own WWDC events such as Stump the Experts, the Apple Design Awards and the Bash—but there have always been a myriad of outside parties and events during the week. With so many developers converging on San Francisco without a WWDC ticket, it seems that number has grown in the past few years.

Last year, I found that there were plenty of events and parties that did not require a WWDC ticket, and this year seems to be shaping up the same way.

During the day, AltConf is a free conference with speakers all week, right near WWDC itself. Last year it was a great place to see some live sessions, meet up with folks and hang out in their lab. In past years, some local developers have also opened their offices up as gathering places during the week.

The evenings are filled with enough events and parties that there is at least one app and one website for tracking them. [Update: These have yet to be updated to show WWDC 2015 events, I would imagine that would happen in the coming weeks or days.]

My personal favorite event during the week is, of course, the James Dempsey and the Breakpoints show. For the last two years, we’ve had a lot of fun playing a free, full concert of iOS and Mac development tunes to packed houses.

PLUG: This year, on Wednesday night during the conference, James Dempsey and the Breakpoints will be LIVE near WWDC 2015. Sign up for email updates for forthcoming details about the show, new songs and recordings.

From a social perspective, there is a lot going on WWDC week that does not require a ticket. Last year, I definitely felt my need to network and talk with others was very fully met.

Wrap up

Being prepared for life without WWDC is the new reality. Both Apple and the development community have provided resources to make a WWDC week an enjoyable and productive time to be in San Francisco, even without a ticket.

I’m looking forward to being up in the city for the week. If you come to town with or without a ticket, please say hello if you see me and come on out to the show! •

March was a busy month for James Dempsey and the Breakpoints, with a brand new song and video (ripped from the headlines!) and Breakpoint Jams at CocoaConf Chicago and Washington DC.

Goto Fail

Goto Fail is inspired by actual code, the code that caused a big security issue in iOS and OS X earlier this year. Not that Apple has a monopoly on SSL issues in 2014 — The recent Heartbleed Bug only drives home the last verse in the song:

Don’t think your own code is some bug-free oasis, It’s probably screwed up in a couple of places.

Daniel joins the fabled group after his stellar performances on slide-advance keyboard as a Conditional Breakpoint during jams across the country this past year. Congratulations Daniel, thank you and welcome!

Also sitting in was Conditional Breakpoint Rusty Zarse (@levous) of LeVous and the Atlanta iOS Developers group. On The Liki Song, Rusty improvised a slide guitar, with his electric in his lap and the edge of his iPhone as the slide. Never have laser-chamfered edges sounded so good!

The performance in Atlanta was the final Breakpoint Jam for the year. We had a lot of fun and would like to thank everyone for the support. The jams will continue in the new year—we hope to see you at one! •

Nathan Sjoquist rehearsing for the Breakpoint Jam at CocoaConf ColumbusPhoto by Solomon Klein

Closing the jam with that eternal refrain—Minawana Meika La’a LikikoPhoto by Solomon Klein

A mix of full and conditional breakpoints joined in to play a set of James Dempsey and the Breakpoints songs for the crowd.

Jonathan Penn (@jonathanpenn) of Rubber City Wizards was inducted as a full Breakpoint following his stellar performance at the Live Near WWDC 2013 show in June. In Columbus, he donned some shades and jammed on guitar and backing vocals.

The jam also included a few Conditional Breakpoints—folks who jam in the pickup band when they happen to be in town.

Nathan Sjoquist (@nathansjoquist) was on hand, taking a break from iOS development for some guitar and backing vocals.

Update Jun 9, 2013: Daniel Pasco will be joining the Breakpoints on trumpet and guitar!

I’m excited to announce that James Dempsey and the Breakpoints will be performing Live Near WWDC 2013 on Wednesday, June 12th at 7:00 PM.

The show is just a few blocks from Moscone West at 50 Mason Social House. Admission is free—no cover charge and no ticket required. We provide the music, you buy the drinks.

Join fellow iOS and Mac developers for an evening of humorous and informative songs including favorites such as Hold Me, Use Me, Release Me; I Love View and Model View Controller. And don’t miss the live performance of our latest single, that modern tale of momentary loss and redemption, Almost Dropped My iPhone.

The joint will be jumpin’ at 50 Mason

Night Of A Thousand Breakpoints
(Well… at least five or six)

This year, the show features a lineup of Mac and iOS indie developer luminaries and maybe even a special guest or two. The Breakpoints include:

They will be joined by the incomparable Victor Alexander (@victoralexander) on slide-advance keyboard.

No WWDC Ticket Required

The show is open to all—no WWDC ticket required—making it a great event for all developers in town for the week. There’s not even an NDA, so tell your friends and come on out to James Dempsey and the Breakpoints, Live Near WWDC 2013. •